Individual Details

Believed to have been the immigrant. Married Hannah Smith, daughter of Nathaniel & Experience Smith of Taunton, MA, about 1725. Hannah said born in Weymouth, MA, 29 Mar 1687. Hannah died 20 Sep 1763. Said to have had three children - two sons and one daughter who died unmarried at about age 20. They are believed to be buried in what was called the Plain Cemetery but no graves can now be located.

William Presbrey, of London, England and Taunton, Mass., and his descendants, 1690-1918.
First Generation:
Among the papers that came into the hands of the executor
of the estate of Captain Seth Presbrey of Taunton, a great-
grandson of William, was a paper bearing the following title : —
"To the Generations of Presbreys in Coming Time, I Bequeathe
This Genealogical Document." It is stated that the paper was
first written in 1825, rewritten in 1839, and rewritten again in
1845. No copy of the edition of 1825 has been found. The
copies written in 1839 and in 1845 are both preserved in the
archives of the Old Colony Historical Society at Taunton. The
two papers are substantially the same, differing only in the
statement of some of the minor details of the story. We give
here a brief statement of the story so as to include all the essential facts given in both papers. When only ten years old
William Presbrey was impressed or bound out to serve on a
British man-of-war until he should be of age...a few
years later he bought land and built a house at a place then
called Spring Brook, nearly a mile north of Taunton Green.
The place is located in the forks of Broadway and Bay Street.
Broadway was then known as the Boston Turnpike.
About 1725 William Presbrey married Hannah Smith, dau,
of Nathaniel and Experience Smith of Taunton. It is said that
the ceremony was performed by the Rev. Samuel Danforth, who was at that time pastor of the First Church in Taunton, and who was buried two years later near the residence of William Presbrey in what is now the Plain Cemetery. It is supposed that William Presbrey and his wife are buried in this cemetery, but their graves can not now be located. Hannah Smith was born in Weymouth, March 29, 1687. Her parents moved from Weymouth to Taunton about 1690. Her father, Nathaniel Smith, was a son of James Smith and was bom in Weymouth June 8, 1639, Thus William Presbrev married into one of the oldest families of the Old Colony. Hannah (Smith) Presbrey died Sept. 20, 1763. At the time of their marriage they were of mature age, he being thirty-five and she thirty-eight. Three children were born to them, two sons and one daughter. The sons married and had families. The daughter died unmarried when about twenty years of age.

William Presbrey married Hannah, daughter of Nathaniel
and Experience Smith, who moved from Weymouth to Taunton
about 1690. Hannah Smith was born in Weymouth March 29,
1687. They had two sons, William and Joseph. William mar-
ried Mary White, as above stated. Joseph married Nov. 21, 1745,
Mary, daughter of Thomas and Abigail (White) Baker. (No. 133).
(The two Marys were 2d cousins.)

The Mayflower Books cite the following:
AmericanAncestors.org
Mayflower Families Fifth Generation Descendants, 1700-1880.
Vol. 15, p.70
Martha Smith (Mary Bundy4, Martha Chandler3, Isabella Chilton2 Child, James1) b. Taunton, 20 Oct 1686; prob. the "Mrs. Prisbery, old", d. Taunton 1 Jan 1778.
She prob m. at Norton 9 Dec 1714, Joseph Prisbery/Presbry, d. Taunton 22 Mar 1771.
On Feb. 1765 Joseph Presbrey of Taunton transferred to his sons Joseph Presbrey Jr & William Presbrey, both of Taunton, his homestead farm with building in Taunton, reserving same to use during his lifetime. Upon petition William Presbery of Taunton was appointed guardian of Martha Presbery of Taunton, widow, 27 Apr 1772. As a result of a petition by Martha, 29 Jun 1772, Joseph Presbry of Taunton was appointed guardian 8 Jul 1772 in place of William. In Martha's petition, both William & Joseph are called her sons. Children: Hannah, b. 1 Oct 1715, Joseph & William
References: VR NORTON (m.): TAUNTON. Bristol Co. PR 22:236, 490, and orig. papers (Martha Presbery); 22:515 (wm. Presbry). Bristol Co. LR 47:366 (Jos. Presbrey).
The Mayflower Society ascribes the same children - Hannah, Joseph & William to this Joseph as the descendants of William (1690-1771) has ascribed to him - read further regarding the discrepancy. If William, d. 1771 and Joseph, d. the same year, were brothers - I'd be a Mayflower descendant.

Taunton Deaths: Joseph, died 22 or 23 March 1771, age 84. (born 1687 - older than William)

A brother of the first William, named Joseph, lived in Taunton, 1714 to 1771, and was a party to a number of transfers of real estate. While this uncle lived Joseph Presbrey, son of William, had the suffix, Jr., written after his name to distinguish him from his uncle, after whom evidently he was named. After the death of his uncle in 1771, the Jr. does not appear after his name. Feb. 7, 1765, Joseph Presbrey, senior, conveyed to Joseph Presbrey, Jr., property in Taunton, consideration, friendship and good will. This seems to indicate that the elder Joseph having no descendants to whom to leave his property, gave some of it to his nephew and namesake. His wife had died previous to the date of this deed, and his daughter, an only child, had died a number of years before. He was then an old man, nearly eighty years of age. The Presbreys now living in Taunton and vicinity are all descendants of William. The descendants of Joseph have scattered widely over the country.


https://northbycompass.com/2013/07/12/william-presbrey-wanted-for-desertion/
William Presbrey, wanted for desertionJuly 12, 2013 — My paternal grandfather, Edwin Ray Hoskins, was a professor of agricultural education at Cornell and an avid genealogist. The family history he published in 1963 is full of stories about journeys and choices in life, but none more fateful than the story of a young British sailor who one day decided to walk away from his ship and start a new life in America.That sailor, William Presbrey, was born in Blackfriars, a section of the southwestern part of old London, in 1690. Parents at this time often “bound out” a child to another family, or elsewhere, to remain until he became of age, to learn a trade. And when William was ten years old, he was bound out for service in the British Navy.Eleven years later his ship landed in Boston Harbor and, on July 30, 1711, William became a deserter after being granted permission to go ashore. Instead of returning to his ship he fled Boston, walking for four days through the fields and woods until he reached Taunton. There he stopped at the house of Nathaniel Crossman, who was a farmer, miller and shoemaker.Nathaniel hired William for a year or two and history recounts that William rigged the first properly equipped sailing vessel used on the Taunton River, drawing on his training from the British Navy. William then married Hannah Smith from one of the oldest families in the Colony and lived until he was eighty-one years old. William and Hannah had two sons, William and Joseph, and one daughter Hannah, who died a young woman.The older son, William, worked as a deck hand on cargo vessels and a shoemaker, and lived in that part of Taunton known as the Weir. He married May White and they had the following children: William (1746-1832); Mary (1747-1832); John (Nov. 15-19, 1749); Elizabeth (1751-1816); Seth (1752-1833); Lydia (1753-1824); Abigail (1755-1836); John (1756-1845); Simeon (1758-1840); Levi (1760-1800) and a daughter born and died in March, 1762.Lydia married Samuel Hoskins, who fought in the War of Independence. Their journey together is a story for another day.

William Presbrey actual records....
3. William Presbrey
a. He was listed by Seth Presbrey in both 1839 and 1845 as the first Presbrey in Taunton and father of the line purportedly born 1690 and died 1771.
b. William was also so reported in the two biographies with both acknowledging information from J. E. Seaver, Esq., secretary of the Old Colony Historical Society who for the White biography “furnished the extensive record of the descendants of Mary 4 White who married William Presbrey …” and for whom the Presbrey work acknowledged as “the late J. E. Seaver of Taunton, Secretary of the Old Colony Historical Society” also citing “The Nicholas White Genealogy by T. J. Lothrop of Taunton.” Given the information from J. E. Seaver was likely from the Seth Presbrey papers, these all appear to be from a single source: Seth Presbrey, who was born 9 years after William purportedly died.
c. No vital records for this William were located for marriage or death, prior to the 1773 death of with William of generation 2, in Taunton and no marriage in Norton or Dighton.
d. No probate was found for a William Presbrey in Bristol county, Massachusetts, prior to 1773, and the 1773 probate matched with the William of generation 2 based upon Seth’s papers.
e. No land records were found in the Grantee or Grantor indices for Bristol county 1686 through 1792, which were not accounted for in the probate of the estate of William (Gen 2) by widow Mary (White) Presbrey, except:
i. two pieces acquired by William sold to Joseph Presbrey Jr. in 1765,
ii. 2 acres acquired on 8 Jan 1771 by William “son of Joseph” from the Town Land committee, and
iii. Mary’s inheritance making it generation 2—sold in 1748 to her brother.
f. The two deeds for the purchase of the property that William Presbrey later sold in 1765 to Joseph Jr., both list him as “of Taunton cordwainer.” [A cordwainer is a shoemaker who makes the shoe originally rather than a cobbler who repairs them. ] From these deeds it is not possible to determine if the buyer is a different William Presbrey, although the deed from Peter Pratt on 20 October 1748 lists the land as “containing one acre bounding Prisbeys other land” which might have been the land from Ebenezer Tisdale on 28 June 1748 “near the path that leads from George Gownsends to Mr. Edward Blakes near lands of James Burt Junior” (the other piece sold to Joseph Jr in 1765) or Land from Robert Luscomb containing a dwelling house and about 4 acres bounded “south easterly by the road that leads from Taunton Meeting House to Dighton. Figure 1 shows Dighton south of Taunton, so Robert Luscomb’s land would have been south of Taunton, not north mentioned in Seth’s papers.
g. The earliest deed for any William buying land in Taunton was from Robert Luscombe and wife Bathsheba on 18 March 1745, which matches the description
of land sold by Mary, administratrix of William Presbrey estate, in 1788 to Seth Presbry. Therefore, this deed belongs to William of the second generation.
i. To execute this deed William Presbrey needed to have been born on or before 18 March 1724, as common law requires one to be over the age of 21 to transact land.
ii. The birth before 18 March 1724 for William of the second generation does not match with Seth’s account of the progenitor marrying Martha Smith about 1725 and then having children.
iii. William of the second generation being born before 18 March 1724 also conflicts with the Presbrey biography, which listed his birth in 1726.
h. Finally, the Grantee and Grantor indices for Bristol county 1686 through 1792 did not have any differentiation of William Presbrey’s, meaning there were no William 2nd, or William Senior, or William Junior, listed.
i. One would have expected such designations if there were multiple men of age transacting land in the same location at the same time.
ii. The lack of any designations even in the later years is a bit odd because when his father died William, son of Mary White and William Presbrey, would have been about 25 to 27 years old—old enough to buy land.